For a successful conversion, you need to move beyond the hype to hard numbers.
After all, executives can overestimate short-term profits and underestimate long-term phase shifts when it comes to digital innovation.
However, the August 2025 Pymnts Intelligence Report, “From Experiment to Instruction: US Product Leader Betting on Gen AI,” reveals that the adoption curve for generator artificial intelligence (AI) is proven to be an exception. In just 18 months, corporate leaders have shifted their expectations from a progressive productivity boost to redesigning wholesale operations.
The data found that a 98% consensus among US product leaders would reconstruct operations over the next three years. Participants came from companies that generate at least $250 million in annual revenue. They weren't messing around with garages and early recruits chasing the hype. These are experience managers who approve budgets, sign vendor agreements and shape the roadmap that determines whether the product survived the next quarterly review.
And 9.8 of those 10 believe generative AI is becoming executive order.
AI shows maturation curve
According to the report, AI Generals are no longer considered as an “innovation project.” Instead, they are moving into the same category as cloud computing and cybersecurity: infrastructure-level needs.
What does this mean for the landscape of solution providers and software vendors? That means it's still early. A single generation AI provider has not gained a lead across critical industries. Instead, the market looks like a patchwork quilt.
For example, Openai dominates technology, naming it as a provider that wishes to have 50% of its Tech CPOs being investigated by Pymnts Intelligence. Google has a 30% product advantage. While Microsoft is leading in services, Nvidia and Google were closely dragged at 24%, with 19% each.
This fragmentation reflects both the relative youth of the market and the highly professional demands of various industries. Tech companies praise the performance of their models and developer tools. Manufacturers evaluate integration with supply chain systems. Service providers prioritize compliance, auditability and quality of customer interaction.
However, fragmentation cannot last forever. With AI capabilities converging and procurement teams looking for the benefits of scale, we feel that vendor integration, or at least strategic alliances, is inevitable. The question is whether the integration is driven by technical advantage, pricing leverage, or regulatory gatekeeping.
Read the report: From Experiment to Order: US Product Leaders Bet on Gen AI
Why isn't this just another technology cycle?
Choosing an AI provider for 2025 is about risk management as well as technical capabilities.
According to the report, Openai appeals to businesses looking for cutting-edge models and developer flexibility, while Google is earning points for enterprise data integration and multilingual capabilities. At the same time, Microsoft will provide embedded AI within the familiar enterprise software ecosystem to make risk averse sector adoption easier, but NVIDIA offers the advantages of hardware software integration for businesses with particularly heavy computing needs.
Many executives hedge by diversifying. One provider is used for internal R&D, the other for customer applications, and one third for specialized analysis. This reflects the early cloud era, when companies maintain both AWS and Azure footprints and mitigate dependencies.
Skeptics may argue that generative AI is following the familiar path of hype: first vibrancy, inevitable disillusionment, final normalization.
However, the 2025 data suggests something different. Rather than a “explosion” cycle, we see a rapid transition from a proof of concept to an embedded utility. It's more like the internet adoption curve for smartphones and broadband than the short-lived wave of metaverse hype, for example.
The most important and perhaps troubling meaning of research may be the gap between perception and preparation.
Almost every CPO believes that generating AI will transform your business. However, many operate in organizations where cultures resist rapid change. The pilot program is when it stalls due to a lack of executive sponsorship or when the procurement cycle cannot accommodate the technology refresh rate.
